1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an image recording device or image printing device for automatically correcting colour defective areas in an image. Such defective colour areas are recorded with a colour spectrum deviating from the actual colour spectrum of said areas without such colour defect. In particular, the present invention relates to an automatic red eye correction.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
In the field of photography and photo-finishing, the automatic correction of colour defective areas, and in particular of red eye defects, has been a subject for discussion since photographs have been taken, in particular if the subject was photographed by using artificial light, e.g. a flash light. As one example of outstanding importance, the correction of red eye defects will be discussed in this patent application, while also other colour defects can be corrected in accordance with the present disclosure.
It is known that red eye defects are caused by the reflection of flash light from the retina, which causes the pupil to look red or at least reddish. Usually, only the pupil of such a flash light photograph looks red. However, in extreme cases, also the whole eye can become a red patch and even the colour might look pinkish or a kind of orange. It is clear that such kinds of red eye defects or vampire eye defects are not acceptable to a customer and, accordingly, there exists the need to correct such kinds of colour defects.
It is known in the art how to correct such colour defects like red eye defects. However, such correction systems usually require the interaction of an operator, who has to pinpoint the defective location in a picture to a correction system. Furthermore, the operator has to pinpoint the dimensions of the red eye defect to the known systems. Subsequently, the system can help to correct the colour defect or the operator himself decides which colour should be used to generate a correction mask. In any case, this kind of operator interaction is not acceptable in a high speed workflow where several thousands of prints have to be processed per hour.